Taiwan unions plan protests against privatisation

TAIPEI: Thousands of workers at more than half a dozen state-owned
enterprises in Taiwan are planning street protests and strikes to
oppose the government’s privatisation programme.

After 8,000 railway workers took to the streets in Taipei last week,
union leaders at Chunghwa Telecom Co, Chinese Petroleum Corp, Taiwan
Power Co, Taiwan Sugar Corp, and Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Co say they
are all considering similar protests.

They fear privatisation would lead to job losses and lower wages,
making worse an unemployment rate that is already hovering above five
per cent, near a record high. We are clueless about our future. We
all feel insecure and hopeless, but the government is not
listening, said Kao Mei-hsiang from the Chunghwa Telecom
Workers’ Union, which represents the New York-listed
firm’s 29,000 employees.

An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Chunghwa workers are set to protest
outside parliament on September 23, when Premier Yu Shyi-kun is due to
deliver his administrative report, Kao said.

We are pushed to the corner and forced to take drastic action in
order to get attention, Kao said. Timing is very important for
us.

Taiwan’s once-lucrative state monopolies have come under intense
pressure from local and foreign competitors in recent years as the
island gradually liberalised its markets.

The government says privatisation is the only answer but workers are
resisting. Workers at the Taiwan Railway Administration pledged at a
protest last Thursday to hold a seven-day strike during Chinese New
Year in January, the most important holiday in Taiwan.

The strike would be the first by any of Taiwan’s unions and
would cripple the railway used by millions of people daily.

Premier Yu has said he would protect the interests of railway workers,
although he gave no specifics. Analysts said the protests may slow
down privatisation before the March 2004 polls, when President Chen
Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party is expected to seek
re-election, but they did not expect a change in long-term policy.

Privatisation is an inevitable trend and there is no turning
back. But by stirring up the issue before the presidential elections,
it may force the government to slow down its pace a bit, said Wu
Hui-lin, research fellow at Chung-Hua Institution for Economic
Research. Officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in charge of
privatisation could not be reached for comment.

In the late 1980s, Taiwan had set ambitious plans to privatise 47
state firms by 2001, but progress has been slow.